A question about Corvids

[MonumentalLentil]

I thought the various sizes of identical looking birds in the garden were crows. They have a lighter patch on the back of the neck.

However, there are now some really, really big black birds with big black beaks which I think are ravens, no lighter patches, beautiful birds and they bounce along sideways.

(There are also blackbirds which I know are not Corvids (thrush family) and I know they are really blackbirds).

I have looked them up but it seems I am not alone in this failure to identify correctly.

Assuming the big ones are ravens, can someone help with the crows or are they rooks or what?

They won't be rooks. I'm inundated with bloody rooks; they have scared away all my other garden birds. Anyway, rooks aren't handsome. They have these big ugly grey beaks. I do like their fluffy trousers though.

This is really interesting! I was wondering what the black and grey birds outside my window are. Hooded crows!

ProperVexed · Yesterday 21:31

This might help.

There are a load of carrion crows and rooks in my locale. They rotate between the park and the links on the seafront. I've seen ravens before and know what they look like, but I hadn't appreciated how much bigger they are, until I saw one, next to a group of rooks, recently.

We went to a place with a bird centre, where they had a rescued raven and when it perched on my arm, I couldn't believe the weight.

Never heard of the sideways hop! Let us know what you find out.

Rooks have a paler scalier bill and stay in groups/nest in the tree tops (rookery) Crows are black and smooth and are solitary except we are coming I to mating season so there could've a pair. Ravens are as big as a buzzard and are the worlds largest perching bird. They are a bit shaggier. Jackdaws are distinct with grey heads and blue eyes.
I've seen all sideways hop!

This is a Raven. It was -30 outside, hence the floof (and possibly attempting to warm up its feet?). I was sat in the car, drinking a Starbucks. I think it wanted my oat bar. It was giving me side eye.

Any time anyone mentions a crow, I’m always reminded of this :

The Highways Agency found over 200 dead crows on the M4 near Bridgend recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the ...bird's beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with motorbikes, while only 2% were killed by cars.

The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviourist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of motorbike kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviourist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "bike"

For some reason i think you can tell by the way they hop/walk if you watch them

I can’t remember though sorry

queenofthebongo · Today 02:29

Ravens are as big as a buzzard and are the worlds largest perching bird.

Interestingly, storks and herons are technically wading birds, but both perch in trees. Herons are exceptionally bad at it, I watched them in Cardiff Marina, finding the thinnest, bendiest branch possible, then clinging on for dear life, as it arched down towards the water.

We have a pair of crows visiting the garden. They're magnificent although they do have a habit of flying off with the entire fat block. We've called them Russell and Sheryl.

Well, what else could you call them?

Oh a lovely corvid thread! I bloody love corvids, to the point that I am wearing a chough brooch on my dress to my graduation today.

OP I think it’s jackdaws and crows as other pps have said. The jackdaw does have a very distinctive eye and call so that helps with identification.

Lots of good corvid identification videos on you tube.

Interesting that ravens are predominantly rural. The only one I have seen one (outside the Tower) in the wild was in Edinburgh city centre. And then for ages I didn’t see it, I could hear it. My mother thought I had gone quite mad as I walked around in circles peering heavenward muttering “there’s a raven here somewhere”. I was right too. Big beautiful bugger it was.

Carrion crow and raven - I watched these two chasing each other for ages and got some pics that show the size difference really clearly (the raven is the big one!)

PMSL 😂

And a jackdaw - the smallest of all the UK's black corvids, with grey neck contrasting with black face, and white eye.

GerundTheBehemoth · Today 06:50

Oh, excellent!

I've seen magpies and crow mobbing a heron, which was in my friend's apple tree. The heron just hunched down, looking miserable and did its best to ignore them, after quite a while, they gave up and squawked at it from other trees.

Also, crows go caw and ravens go cronk (sort of).

Wonderful photos @GerundTheBehemoth

This is the book that kindled my love of Corvids. It’s annoyingly misnamed as it’s about rook and jackdaws and the author’s obsession with his local rookery. It’s a lovely uplifting read.

Why does the poor crow get carrion tagged onto its name? Like eating carrion is some kind of stigma when loads of birds and other creatures enjoy a bit of carrion for their lunch?

I saw herons nesting the other week in the trees. It was awesome. Yes, I think they stumble and lean rather than perch! 😂

The only place over ever seen a wild raven is in the Lake District, and they are massive! Crows are quite big birds, but ravens really are enormous.

Jackdaws are really petite compared to a crow. Lovely birds.

They are, my son in law is an airport firefighter and bird scaring is part of the job. To disperse most birds they either just drive close making a noise or fire an air rifle. To disperse the crows they have to play an audio of the bird, then fire the rifle and turn the audio off at the same time do they think the attack is genuine.

delighted to find this thread, I know very little about corvids tho I’m not too bad with birds generally.

have a picture of a Stonehenge raven.